Modeling Spatially Unrestricted Pedestrian Traffic on Footbridges
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 10
Abstract
The research into modeling walking-induced dynamic loading and its effects on footbridge structures and people using them has been intensified in the past decade after some high profile vibration serviceability failures. In particular, the crowd induced loading, characterized by spatially restricted movement of pedestrians, has kept attracting attention of researchers. However, it is the normal spatially unrestricted pedestrian traffic, and its vertical dynamic loading component, that is the most relevant for vibration serviceability checks for most footbridges. Despite the existence of numerous design procedures concerned with this loading, the current confidence in its modeling is low due to lack of verification of the models on as-built structures. This is the motivation behind reviewing the existing design procedures for modeling normal pedestrian traffic in this paper and evaluating their performance against the experimental data acquired on two as-built footbridges. Additionally, the use of Monte Carlo simulations is also investigated. Possible factors that cause discrepancies between measured and calculated vibration responses, including possibility of existence of pedestrian-structure dynamic interaction, are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
The writers acknowledge the financial support that came from the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for Grant Reference No. EPSRCGR/T03000/01 (Stochastic Approach to Human-Structure Dynamic Interaction). The writers also thank the Icelandic Public Road Administration, the Línuhönnun (now Efla) consulting engineers in Reykjavik, and the University of Montenegro in Podgorica for their financial and technical contribution in relation to the full-scale testing of the two bridges. Finally, the writers are grateful to unknown reviewers for invaluable comments during revision of the original paper.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 10 • October 2010
Pages: 1296 - 1308
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: May 4, 2009
Accepted: Mar 28, 2010
Published online: Apr 8, 2010
Published in print: Oct 2010
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